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So we spent the last week visiting my Smart BIL and Hot SIL outside of Baltimore, Maryland. We had a great time, and I promised a follow-up post now that we've returned and I again have access to the micro-USB cable that allows me to transfer photos from my camera. Yes, I did leave it at home, thanks for asking. Feel free to shut up at any time.

We arrived on Saturday, and immediately went to our hosts' favorite crab place for lunch. Hmm...crab cakes.

Sunday we went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. This is an annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and contains items that actually require a hanger as opposed to being small enough to be housed in a museum, like this awesome Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

The full photo set for the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and the Air & Space Museum in Washington DC, which we visited on Tuesday, can be found here.

Monday we walked around the National Mall and visited all the Memorials, where we ran into the gentlemen I wrote about here. One of the things I liked about the war memorials was the designers' success in being inclusive.

As a female vet, I appreciated that my sisters'-in-arms contributions were recognized.

I especially enjoyed the FDR memorial, who I believe is rolling over in his grave right about now.

This visit made me feel very strange. Prior to my leaving active duty, I had orders to the U.S. Naval Academy as a Company Commander. Instead of moving to Maryland, I chose to leave active duty and join the active reserves. While I don't regret my choice and I love my life, seeing the Academy turned my thoughts to "might have beens." Weird. Full photo set is here.

Thursday we met NeuronDoc and TheHusband for a sushi dinner, and they turned out to be as funny, smart and gracious as I'd thought.

Until the check came. Then there was trouble.

We compromised and let the Smart BIL and the Hot SIL pick up the tab.

Friday we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I love Natural History Museums, so this was the one I was most looking forward to. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed. Their ocean hall was fabulous, and how can you not love pterodactyls?

But I do have to stick up for the home team and assert that the Denver Museum of Nature and Science does a better job with the art of dioramas, and our dinosaur exhibit is also superior.

While we were there, I picked out my Christmas gift from the Smart Man:

All in all, it was a great visit, and my Smart BIL and Hot SIL were extremely patient about shlepping us all over the place. I'm glad to be home, though, and Boogie was very happy to see us. While his soft Grandma took great care of him, she doesn't do walkies on demand, which is simply unacceptable.

That looks like a fab vacation. At Wright Pat they have a SR-71 in their hangers. It just amazes me that its titanium skin is rippled from the friction of it's flying so fast (not on the wing areas which are intentionally corrugated). Love that bird.

My favorite SR-71 fact: all those hours of flying at Mach 2.5-3.1 heat treated the titanium skin such that much of it lost any grain structure and became single crystals. So hard it required new technology when they had to cut into panels during maintenance. Second fact -- the friction with the air sharpened the chine edge of the fuselage to razor sharpness. Since the plane stays hot long after landing, they had to be careful near the plane. You could be cut open and cauterized without ever feeling it.

I got to see the FDR memorial right before I moved here. I really liked it. I had the feeling that it probably "ought" to have been edited a little, but I have no idea what would go. It's a cool and thought provoking memorial.

About Me

I am a Hot Chick living in Castle Rock, CO with my fabulous family. We have a rescue dog named "Jackson," and she's a Basenji/Shepherd mix. She's something of a head case, but we love her. I'm a U.S. Navy vet, and I currently work as an Enterprise Solutions Architect, specializing in VoIP and multimedia contact center design. I care about social justice, libraries, science, the U.S. Constitution and the military. I serve as a Director on our local library's Foundation Board. I'm a tax and spend liberal in a largely red county, but I try not to be stabby about it. I aspire to run faster than I do, and I donate knitted cold weather gear to various charities. Stupidity, cupidity and wanton assholery piss me off, and I'm more than a little soft when it comes to dogs and those who serve others. I blog about whatever I feel like. I use foul language, so if that sort of thing offends you, feel free to fuck off now - if I'm unwilling to clean up my language for my fabulous Great Auntie Margie, I'm unlikely to do so for you. Newcomers are welcome here, especially those who disagree with me, but trolling and spamming will be met with the Shovel of Doom™.